Iraq: Uranium Contamination, War Crimes And U.S.Troops

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By Joseph R. Spencer

18 February,2015Countercurrents.org

Yet again the call comes from capital hill, and the cowling press that due to American-Zionist backed ISIS and their brutal tactics in Syria and Iraq, that the Unites States should, and most likely will, put combat troops on the ground in Iraq. There is no doubt that the group known as ISIS uses war tactics that are far beyond reprehensible. With the beheading of journalists, the burning of a Jordanian pilot and the mass execution of Egyptian Christians, as well as the apparent call to kidnap even more western journalists, ISIS is sure to be remembered as one of the most heinous terrorist organizations to ever take the world stage.

However, ISIS is not alone in their brutality. There is overwhelming evidence that the United States military has committed unimaginable acts of violence that not only constitute war crimes, but that if examined closely, could be described as acts of genocide.

These tactics have not only injured and maimed civilian populations in Iraq, but with new deployment all but imminent, have the potential to be staggeringly detrimental to U.S. troops as well.

In 1991 and again in 2003 the artillery-not only in a prescribed manner, but also in a manner which has been described by leading experts on DU weapons and their effects as being particularly brutal. In the United Nations declaration on the “” There is clear language restricting the parameters of warfare. Specifically, any action that curtails the reproduction of a population. There is mountains of evidence that the United States’ use of DU weapons has been the chief cause of an exponential rise in birth defects as well as cases of cancer in the civilian population.

The that could only be described as horrific in the illegal occupation of Iraq. There is no dought that in light of the revelations, even in the most bias of media circles, that the United States used depleted uranium in civilian populated areas even in light of overwhelming evidence that doing so would not only constitute unnecessary suffering among the warring militarized segment of the population, but also have a lasting and prolonged effect on the reproductive abilities of the civilian population as well. This constitutes an act of genocide.

The World Health Organization commissioned a study to find out just how extensive the damage was to the population of Iraq and once the study had been completed they allegedly

In an article published on the following was stated: “The World Health Organization (WHO) has categorically refused in defiance of its own mandate to share evidence uncovered in Iraq that US military use of Depleted Uranium and other weapons have not only killed scores of civilians, but continue to result in the birth of deformed babies.- This issue was first brought to light in 2004 in a WHO expert report on the long-term health of Iraq’s civilian population resulting from depleted uranium (DU) weapons. This earlier report was held secret, namely suppressed by the WHO.

The study by three leading radiation scientists cautioned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing DU, which is radioactive and chemically toxic. But it was allegedly blocked from publication by the World Health Organization (WHO), which employed the main author, Dr Keith Baverstock, as a senior radiation adviser. He alleges that it was deliberately suppressed, though this is denied by WHO. (See Rob Edwards, WHO ‘Suppressed’ Scientific Study Into Depleted Uranium Cancer Fears in Iraq, The Sunday Herald, February 24, 2004)”

In a (the leading physician on the WHO committee responsible for the study) he states that the primary route for the toxic ingestion is the lungs. This is to include a risk to US soldiers through friendly fire incidents as well as the proliferation of used artillery that is still present in the areas of use in Iraq. According to An article published on the Information Clearinghouse website, “”

A poignant statement was made at the end of the presentation : I am on record as saying that politics has poisoned the well from which democracy must drink. By this I mean that political expediency has all but eliminated truly independent research and along with that went PUBLIC TRUST. Without public TRUST democracy cannot work. In the context of risk assessment SCIENCE should provide the evidence, openly and transparently, and unalloyed with any interest in the outcome except that it be the truth. On the basis of this evidence POLITICS should decide the risk that is acceptable within the social and legal context of the time.

With current proposals to deploy troops in areas that may be staging points to launch attacks against ISIL, DU affected areas like Samawah, Nasiriyah and Basrah, have the potential to inflict unnecessary harm on the troops that may be deployed in those areas. Essentially creating an even greater harm to not only the health and well-being of the troops themselves, but the health of their families and loved ones once returning home. As the DU material itself is only minimally soluble in water and has proven to be resistant to detoxification even after years of laying in open areas. While there is presidence for using DU weapons in warfare, ” from the international law division of USAF’s Office of the Judge Advocate General concluded in March 1975 that DU weapons were legal. But it recommended imposing restrictions on how they were used.”

These restrictions were to include the use of DU weapons in populated areas, to which the United States military ignored such recommendations. In fact, the use of DU weapons has been stated to be used only on “hard” targets such as tanks and bunkers.

Even with all of the coordinates that the US military used the DU weapons have not been made public. Therefor, putting troops on the ground in Iraq in order to battle for key points along the ISIS occupation zones can be shown to be of great risk to US soldiers in more than just the expected ways associated with combat.

When one looks with factual context at the occupation of Iraq by the United States, it is clear that due to the apparent evidence that the Bush administration used forged documents to forward an agenda of occupation for political gain. The forgery was reported in an . The article states: Italy’s spymaster identified an Italian occasional spy named Rocco Martino on Thursday as the discriminator of forged documents that described efforts by Iraq to buy uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear weapons program, three lawmakers said Thursday.” As it is common knowledge that the reason quoted by the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq was WMD’s.

With such a nefarious president set in the previous occupation of Iraq there seems to little consideration of these facts in the narrative today. Weather this narrative is present in the minds of military and political leaders in the lead-up to military intervention in the current instance is unknown. What is clear is that there is a significant risk to putting American troops on the ground in Iraq with such risk as contamination. The previous illegal occupation of Iraq and use of albeit legal, yet controversial weaponry in an illegal means, has proven horrific for the population of Iraq, irreconcilably harmful for the United States public perception, as well as providing fodder for terrorist recruitment through-out the world. Essentially creating our own terrorists, yet again.